One thing that stood out clearly after the Revolution was the fear of a strong national government. Some of the states refused to ratify the Constitution unless amendments were added at once guaranteeing the liberties of the people. The first ten amendments, known as the "bill of rights," were the result. To make sure that no important rights were left unguarded, the ninth amendment provides that "the enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
Read the first ten amendments and discuss the meaning of each.
A GOVERNMENT OF DELEGATED POWERS
It was clearly expected that most of the governing powers to which the people were subject should be exercised by the states, and not by the national government. The national government was to exercise no powers except such as were DELEGATED to it in the Constitution. These powers are important ones, but few in number, and are listed in section 8 of Article I. In order to make this limitation of powers perfectly clear, the tenth amendment declares that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people." Certain powers were also expressly denied to the national government in section 9 of Article I.
Discuss the meaning of each clause in Article I, section 8.
Discuss the meaning of each clause in Article I, section 9.
THE SCOPE OF NATIONAL POWERS
The powers of the national government relate to interstate and foreign affairs, or to matters that the several states could not well regulate without confusion or injustice. For example, it was chiefly the confusion in matters pertaining to trade in the period following the Revolution that made the new government necessary. Therefore power was given to it "to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes." So, also, it was given power "to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures," for varying systems of coinage and of weights and measures would be inconvenient. For similar reasons it was empowered "to establish post-offices and post-roads," "to establish an uniform rule of naturalization" for immigrants, and "to promote the progress of science and useful arts" by giving copyrights and patents to authors and inventors. The states, on the other hand, were expressly forbidden to exercise any control over some such matters of national and international concern in section 10 of Article I.
Read section 10, Art I, and discuss the reasons why the powers there mentioned should have been denied to the states.